But maybe we shouldn’t lament the sundry scandals that have made 2007 the Year of the Cheater. Maybe, instead, we should see them as a desperately needed dose of reality — as incontrovertible proof that, in light of current financial and technological developments, our age-old idealization of sport has become untenable. Maybe we need a new, post-ethical conception of fandom, one that accepts cheating’s entrenched role in the fabric of 21st-century sport and prizes athletic and competitive prowess — regardless of whether it’s natural or lab-manufactured — over alleged good behavior. Look at the situation this way, and Ankiel, Belichick, & Co. didn’t let us down. Instead, they did us a favor.

Times have changed
I know what you’re thinking. Untwist your panties, Reilly, you dreary Midwestern killjoy. The Sox just won the AL East and have a shot at a second World Series title in four years; the Patriots are perfect and looking unbeatable; with the acquisition of Kevin Garnett, the Celtics have suddenly become the chic pick to win the NBA title; Boston College has replaced Notre Dame as the favorite football team of smug Catholics everywhere. Some of us are actually enjoying ourselves. Plus, none of this is new — ever heard of the Chicago Black Sox?

One point at a time, please. Yeah, I get it — it’s a nice time to be a Boston fan. Do enjoy yourself, please. But there’s a bigger sports universe out there, and it’s in the middle of an ethical realignment — thanks, in part, to the transgressions of the once-sainted Belichick. This here’s a chance to inoculate yourself against the disappointment you’ll feel the next time one of your sports heroes gets accused of some unsavory activity. And it will happen, so you might want to pay attention.

Now, about the Black Sox scandal of 1919, in which eight Chicago White Sox players were accused of intentionally throwing that year’s World Series. Yes, it’s a useful reminder that pro sports never quite had the sepia-tinged purity we like to imagine. And yes, baseball’s mess almost a century ago stacks up pretty well, in terms of sheer systematic ugliness, to its problems today. (“Everyone was betting,” says Purdue University sports historian Randy Roberts. “Fixed games were probably rampant at the time. The game was totally sullied.”) But baseball also took immediate steps to clean itself up — by implementing the Commissioner system, suspending eight players for life, and embracing a hard-core gambling stance that’s kept the game relatively clean (at least where gambling is concerned) and Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame.

The 1951 point-shaving debacle in college basketball bears mention here, too. Like the Black Sox, this ugly affair — in which players from 1950 NCAA and NIT champion City College of New York (CCNY), the University of Kentucky, and five other teams were accused of colluding with bookmakers to tailor outcomes to point spreads — called the core credibility of the college game into question. And, as with the Black Sox, the punishment was harsh (32 players arrested, multiple indictments handed down, All American center Bill Spivey barred from the NBA for life). That didn’t fully prevent subsequent point-shaving imbroglios, including one involving the 1978–’79 Boston College men’s basketball team, but college basketball still managed to survive and thrive.

Game on Dodgers win the Series! Bird plays H.O.R.S.E.! Congressman Canseco! We have seen the future of sports (and its name is Tony Graffanino).

Bonds away This Barry Bonds thing is going to be a big story, no doubt, but trust me: even bigger news is probably coming.

Their cheating hearts When Kristina Newman-Scott took over as director of programs for the Boston Center for the Arts in January, she was surprised at its lack of literary offerings.

The worst and best of Boston sports in 2010 The Patriots are 12-2, the Red Sox won Hot Stove season, the Bruins are skating off skeins of wins thanks in part to the pickup of an 18-year-old Wunderkind who may be the second coming of Jesus on ice skates, and the Celtics have twice dunked the Heat.

BULLY FOR BU! | March 12, 2010 After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.

STOP THE QUINN-SANITY! | March 03, 2010 The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

RIGHT CLICK | February 19, 2010 Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.

RANSOM NOTES | February 12, 2010 While reporting from Afghanistan two years ago, David Rohde became, for the second time in his career, an unwilling participant rather than an observer. On October 29, 1995, Rohde had been arrested by Bosnian Serbs. And then in November 2008, Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were en route to an interview with a Taliban commander when they were kidnapped.

POOR RECEPTION | February 08, 2010 The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.